I live out West for the past 28 years, but in the late 70s and early 80s I skated at Skate Haven in NC every Friday night. Those were the days. Lots of speed skating back then, and I was heartened to see they still do speed events today. Same rink, same floor, same tactics. It's funny, but out here were I live now, people think speed skating is doing about 2 sprint laps, then cutting into the middle of the floor and resting or just slowing down and jam skate/resting.